Mother
by trashace
Summary: A young boy and his three friends go on a quest to save the world, while dealing with a dose of aliens and teenage angst. Not your average mother rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I know everyone and their brother has tried to adapt Mother into story form, but I wanted to try something different. I wanted to try something darker, and as light hearted as things are right now, it's going to get.. Not so happy. And for a story about friendship and love, most people always go for the traditional canon of making Ana and Ninten fall in love while the other two get pushed aside. But for a group of kids who were different in their own special ways, I thought it seemed perfectly acceptable to make two of them gay and instead put Ana in the role of supporting friend. Besides the pairing change, there are going to be a few other twists. It'll be different, but I hope people enjoy it nonetheless. Remember to review!**

* * *

Long before the tale of fate truly unfolds, there lived a couple by the names of George and Maria. They lived in a place no different than most small towns in southern America, and they were the epitome of what every other couple in Podunk strived to be. George was a journalist; one of the most well known in the area, while Maria was active in the scientific community.

Writers and other journalists alike were often amazed at the sheer skill that George possessed. Almost as if he had a sort of power unknown to man itself. George knew things, things that the common man wouldn't dare poke his nose into. He was very invested in the supernatural, but he kept his discoveries to himself when it wasn't involved with the paper.

Some would say that George and Maria's interests would lead to their disappearances, but some would beg to differ and try to pinpoint it as a simple coincidence of fate. The disappearance of the couple wasn't the first of the strange happenings, so it seemed nearly impossible that they had played a part in it, coming from an unbiased standpoint.

It had started on a day no different from any other, except that the normally clear skies were filled with a black haze. More specifically, the skies near Mt. Itoi. No one knew where these strange clouds came from, only that they had appeared from seemingly out of nowhere- and that they weren't going away anytime soon.

It was that even evening that a few hikers had went missing on the mountain. Hikers going missing was about as common as finding stray pennies on the sidewalk, so most people payed no mind to it. A few days later, the hikers returned, but with little to no memory of what had happened. They could barely remember their own names, or even what had happened before they decided to trek up the mountain. The general public blamed this on a head injury, and nothing more.

When people truly began to realize that something was wrong, dozens of people were already gone without a trace. Then days later, they would return at the bottom of the mountain with no memory of what had happened. Naturally, this strange cloud and it's affects fascinated George and Maria, so they were determined to investigate further. It would make one hell of a headline for the newspaper as well.

The two packed their bags and headed off to the mountain without a second thought, only to never be seen again. Their tiny hometown of Podunk gave up on their return shortly after the cloud had vanished weeks later. A small funeral service was held, despite the lack of any bodies. George and Maria's two children were crushed, especially due to their young age.

The odds seemed to be against them in every way, but their young daughter never lost hope. She believed that one day her parents would return home, safe and sound. No one believed her, but no one had the heart to tell her otherwise. Years passed, and the girl's hope began to fade as her and her brother grew older. She began to fill with the inevitable doubt, and gradually gave up her lifelong dream of seeing her parents again.

Then one day, George appeared on the doorstep. He didn't speak for a long time, and could only stare down at his remaining family with a blank expression. Finally, he demanded to be let into his study. His relatives were baffled, but they respected George's wishes. As time passed, George never revealed to him what had happened on the mountain on that fateful night or what Maria's fate had been. He only demanded that they let him study in peace.

Slowly but surely, George began to lose his mind. He mourned for his wife, and for the things he could no longer remember. No one in the family could help him, and they could only sit and watch as he faded into an old, senile man. Eventually, George was found dead in his study, only leaving behind his works that no one could manage to decipher. By that time, his daughter had given birth to a son, and had decided to stay in the home she'd lived in with her parents.

The next few years passed peacefully. Old generations died out, and new were born. Nothing in the sleepy little town changed, and no other strange things had happened. All was well, for the time being. George's grandson had gotten happily married, resulting in a son- and soon enough, two daughters.

The family expected a normal life, however- their newborn son was anything but normal. Perhaps that was their repayment for naming their son Ninten, after all. At first, it was impossible to notice that he was, to be frank- rather odd. He behaved like any other baby, until he was nearly a year old.

It started off with the small things; toys would be in totally different places than where she'd put them away, bottles would vanish from the fridge, etc. Small things that Ninten's parents would've never noticed, if it hadn't been for what occurred afterwards. Marcia was teaching her son how to walk, and had let Ninten try and stand up on his own.

She smiled and held her hands out, waiting for him to wobble right into her arms. The baby took a hesitant step, before falling flat on his face into the carpet. His mother gasped and reached down to pick him up, and when he was safely in her arms, she noticed that he'd scraped the side of his knee during the fall.

Of course, he began crying almost instantly. She rocked him gently and went to get a bandage, but when she'd reached down to examine the cut again, it was completely healed. She knew that it had been there, an injury that visible couldn't have just vanished. Letting out another surprised gasp, she quickly dashed into her son's nursery to put him in his crib. By the time she'd picked up the phone to call her husband, she was nearly in tears. All she could tell him was that something was wrong, very very wrong.

With a heavy heart, Ninten's father had to explain to his wife about the research of his grandfather, and how George had discovered superhuman abilities known as Psi. That was one of his most mind boggling discoveries, not to mention no more research had been done after his death. Since Ninten was still just an infant, they would have no way of telling what power he was capable of.

Like any good parent would be, the two were scared. They had no idea what their son's future would hold. All they could do was hide this secret until the time was right.

* * *

"Mom, I'm home!" A young boy called out, slamming the door before walking into his house. He tossed his backback into the floor, along with his dirt coated baseball bat and red cap. Said boy's mother walked into the living room, scowling at her son's appearance. For a fifteen year old, he sure knew how to make a mess.

"For the last time, stop leaving your dirty bat inside!" She scolded him. "I don't care how good you are at baseball, you won't be hitting any home runs in this house." Despite her words, the woman smiled at him and strode back into the kitchen.

"Sorry, sorry.." The boy said sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head. Ninten was a smart ass when he wanted to be, but his mother was the only person he wouldn't be sarcastic with. He knew way better than to cross that line. Ignoring her protests, he left the bat alone and followed her into the kitchen, where his twin sisters sat at the table with coloring books. They were kicking their feet against impatiently, clearly waiting for dinner.

And as soon as he smelt the scent of prime rib wafting in from the oven, Ninten was impatient too.

"I thought you were mad at me mom, but you're making prime rib, just for me." Ninten shook his head and smirked. Both of his sisters shot him an annoyed glance, but went back to their coloring soon enough before letting out a simultaneous, "Is it done yet?"

"There won't be any prime rib for anyone if you kids don't scoot back up to your rooms and clean up before dinner." Their mother chided in. All three children rolled their eyes, but slowly trudged back upstairs to their bedrooms. Minnie made sure Ninten knew that she thought it was his fault, too.

When he got up to his room, Ninten ran his hand through his dirty black hair and flopped over on the bed. He'd had a long day, even if it was no different than any other. Get up, go to school, go to baseball practice, then head home. Not that he didn't enjoy his life, it just got kind of boring sometimes. There was nothing really special about him, except that he was the best hitter for his school's baseball team. That was only amazing because he had asthma. Playing a game without getting sick was more important than hitting a home run, in his opinion.

Then again, that wasn't really much of a feat- considering how most of the kids in Podunk were nothing but small town hillbillies who were good at sports, but not very good at anything else. Ninten was just...normal. Vanilla. Plain. Whatever you wanted to call it. Nothing interesting ever happened in Podunk either, save for the rare rainy days. Despite his life being pretty dull, he didn't mind too much. Boring was better than strange, right?

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a rattling noise, which was coming from the lamp near his bedside. The lamp began to shake and rattle violently, until the plug flew right out of the socket and the lamp went hurtling toward Ninten. His eyes widened, and he had to quickly jump off the bed before the lamp could murder him.

"Well I'll be damned," He continued to stare down at the lamp in shock, not really believing what he was seeing. Lamps flying and attacking people wasn't really an ordinary thing. For a minute or two, he was sure he'd just been hallucinating, but then the lamp shook a few more times and levitated off the bed again.

This time, Ninten chose not to run like a coward and instead held out a closed fist. The lamp was flying towards him at blinding speed, so the collision between his fist and the object happened way too fast for him to really notice. His small fist busted the illuminated bulb and effectively knocked the shade off, sending the lamp flying across the room yet again. It hit the wall with a loud thud, and then the lamp was no more.

It lay in the floor in a million tiny pieces- not really that intimidating anymore. Still, he couldn't believe what had just happened. Ninten looked down at his hand, which fortunately had came out of the weird lamp ordeal a lot better off than he expected. There was barely a two inch cut stretching across his palm.

He'd sort of lied earlier, he wasn't really all that normal. Ever since he could remember, he was able to heal his own injuries, and could sometimes move things with his mind if he tried hard enough. Yeah, that wasn't really normal at all. It was just one of those things that couldn't be explained, not to mention something he was too afraid to explain to his parents. They'd think he was crazy.

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated his mind on the tiny cut. Usually he had to focus on the image of light, or something warm and comforting in order for his powers to take affect. He closed his eyes tightly, and kept the mental image of a sunny summer day. Soon enough, the warmth trailed down to his hand and the gash slowly faded away. When his brown eyes opened again and gazed down at his hand, it was perfectly fine. There was only a tiny spec of dried blood, but he wiped it off on his pants hurriedly.

What had just happened? Was this caused by his power, or something else entirely? But to be honest, Ninten hadn't used them in quite awhile. Today was the first time he'd tried healing himself in months. Just as he went to examine the broken lamp and try to make sense of it, there was a bloodcurdling screech from down the hallway. His stomach did a flop upon realizing it was Mimmie who'd just screamed.

He ran down the hallway as fast as he could and swung the door open at lightning speed. Both of the twins were huddled on the bed, their arms wrapped around each other in fear. Their chestnut colored pigtails were disheveled, and the bottom of their matching purple dresses were torn around the edges.

"Oh Ninten!" Minnie cried, pointing down at something that was levitating by the foot of her bed. "It's the doll, y'know the one grandpa got us?! It attacked us, out of nowhere!"

"Hurry, make it stop!" Mimmie added, biting her lip in fear. The doll was steadily crawling up the side of the bed sheets, no doubt trying to attack the girls again. Ninten was still in shock from the last incident, but he had to pull himself together, and quick. Even though he was still frightened, his sisters were depending on him and he couldn't let them down now. Even if they were annoying sometimes.

He quickly scanned the room for anything he could destroy the doll with, but of course there were nothing but toys scattered across the floor, leaving absolutely nothing that could help. He was just going to have to do this the old fashioned way again. Balling his fist up by his side, Ninten walked over to the bed and swung his fist behind his shoulder. One good punch would break the doll right in two.

It's beady little button eyes stared up at him, glittering with something sinister. Dolls were already creepy enough, however this one was just taking it to a whole new level. Ninten readied his fist and swung at the doll with as much force as he could muster. His fist slammed right into the sinister little doll, which stopped it right in it's tracks.

Much to his surprise, the doll didn't break. When his fist smashed it into the floor, the doll only stopped moving. There wasn't even a crack in it's plastic skin.

"Look!" Mimmie cried. Ninten spun around, with his mouth agape. The doll was right back on the shelf, where the girls usually kept it when they weren't playing with it. The glint was gone from it's eyes, and it's expression had turned back into the typical smile that the doll had before all the craziness happened. No one made a sound, as they were all just waiting for the doll to do something else.

It didn't move for a long time, but eventually the head popped off just like the cap would on a soda. One of the girls let out a shriek, while Ninten went over to look the doll over. This time, he stayed back slightly, and hesitated before putting his hand on the doll. It looked normal until he reached the spot where the head had popped off.

There was a tiny music box hidden, no bigger than a box someone would keep a ring it. Out of curiosity, he ran his hand around the sleek little black box, promptly jumping back when it began to play a tune. Of course, Ninten had never heard the strange song before, and it only played a few notes before the music faded away. He'd never heard anything like this in his entire life, yet it felt so familiar to him- like he should've known it.

Despite the creepy circumstances, he liked the song. It left a weird feeling inside him that was difficult to shrug off. Almost like homesickness.

"That was wild," Minnie said in disbelief. She'd finally crawled off the bed and joined her brother. Apparently the doll hadn't scared her as much as her twin, because Mimmie was still perched on the bed like the doll would jump at her at any moment.

"Did you hear the song?" Ninten asked, putting the doll back on the shelf. There was no way he was touching that thing again.

"What song? What are you talking about?"

"You didn't hear the song?" He raised an eyebrow. Maybe he had just heard things? But it seemed so real, and the music box was still sitting there right where he left it.

"No?" Minnie looked at him like he had gone crazy. "There was a box in the doll, but I didn't hear any music. You're weird."

"I didn't hear any either.." Mimmie said softly.

"Oh well, I'm gonna go check on mom. Something funny's going on." Ninten left and began to walk down the stairs, ignoring the worried feeling he'd had deep down. Something really wasn't right.

"You don't say!" Minnie hollered. He ignored that too.

When he reached the living room, his mother looked even more distressed. She hopped up from the couch and grabbed him by tightly the shoulders, looking into his eyes with worry. It hurt Ninten just to see his mother look so sad. Judging by her expression, she looked like someone had just died.

"Oh honey, are you hurt? I heard a crash upstairs, and I was just about to call your father. Did that poltergeist get you? Are the girls okay? Are you okay? Are y-"

"Slow down mom, I'm fine." Upon hearing that, Marcia sighed in relief and let go of Ninten. He rubbed his shoulders and winced. He knew she was worried, but did she really have to squeeze him that hard?

"I'm glad. I feared the worst when I heard your sister scream." She sat back down, and the worried expression began to reappear. Her lips twisted into a concerned frown, which for some reason seemed common lately. "Can you call your dad and tell him what happened? I don't want to interrupt him during a meeting, but he needs to know."

"Alright." He stood up and took the phone off the hook, and dialed the familiar number. Talking to his father wasn't something he got to do very often, as he was always working. This time it didn't seem like much of a treat though. After only a couple rings, his father answered the phone.

"Hello?" A gruff voice said.

"Dad? It's me, Ninten. I.. Uh.. Something happened."

"What?" His father's tone seemed nearly identical to the one his mother had minutes earlier. Ninten wondered why. "What's going on?" And so, he told him everything that had happened in the past hour, starting from the lamp going crazy and ending with the doll and the strange music.

"I was afraid this would happen." For some reason, this piqued his interest even more.

"What do you mean?"

"Son.." His father let out a deep sigh, before continuing. "Never mind. Your grandfather owned a journal, it should be down in the basement. There are several of his things down in a trunk, but don't worry about the other junk. Just the journal, it should give you some answers."

"But the basement's always locked!" Ninten protested. At the mention of the basement, his mother tensed up. For years, he'd just assumed his dad kept something valuable down there, and that was the reason it was always shut up tight. Or at least something like family photos.

"There should be a key somewhere. I'm not sure where I put it, but it's around there somewhere. Find the key, and all of this should make more sense."

"It still doesn't make any sense to me."

"Ninten," His father scolded. "Some things just aren't meant to be explained. That's just part of life. All I can give you is what your grandpa left behind, otherwise you'll be even more clueless than you are now. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it should soon."

"Does this have something to do with.. Uh.." Ninten twirled the phone's cord around his finger and tried to stall. He dreaded asking this question. "Magic or something? I dunno how to put it."

"Magic?" It was then that his father laughed. "No, it doesn't have to do with any magic. You're a little too old to still be believing in that stuff anyway." He paused for a minute, and soon enough the somber tone was back. "Listen, I've got to run. Just find the key." And with that, the line went dead.

"Mom, where's the basement key?" Ninten asked. Her face immediately went a sickly shade of pale.

"You don't need to go down there!" She said in a near shout. "Just forget about this poltergeist business for now, I'm sure it was all just a misunderstanding." She was hiding something, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Plus, she quickly changed the subject. "Dinner's ready, go up and fetch your sisters before it gets cold."

He did as he was told, for now. Yet, Ninten had a secret. There was still the secret of what was down in the basement, and he couldn't wait to sneak down there and find out after everyone else went to bed. Already, he'd made up a plan for getting down there after he found the key.

For once, things didn't seem so dull around here after all.


	2. Chapter 2

It was past midnight when Ninten snuck out of his room, and slowly began to tiptoe down the stairs. Every little creak they made nearly made him jump, which made him even more paranoid someone would wake up and scold him at any moment. Each stair felt like a grenade, as if it would explode and give him away at any time. Fortunately, he made it downstairs without giving himself away, but that was only half of the battle. He still had to find the mysterious key, and he didn't have any hint as to where it would be. He tapped his chin in thought, trying to think of something- anything that could help him.

Where would his dad hide something that was supposed to unlock the secrets of the universe?

First, he tried the kitchen cabinets. Nothing. Every single drawer or cabinet held no hint of a key. He searched under the pillows on the couch, and even under the couch itself. Nothing. He shook all the rugs, which of course didn't have the key hiding under any of them. He searched the dusty bookshelves any book that looked suspicious or out of place. It was starting to her frustrating, because he knew it was a risk. His mom would wake up at any moment and come chew him out. Every few minutes, his eyes darted towards the stairs, just waiting for her to come down.

Every inch of the kitchen and living room had been searched, which left nothing except the bedrooms. That would be too much. The girls would probably scream like he was the devil or something, and that would be a total giveaway. There was no way he was stepping for in his parent's bedroom either, and if it had been there his mom would've gotten rid of it anyway. She was sneaky like that, sometimes. Then, it hit him. It had to be under the doormat outside! That was always where people hid important stuff in movies, so it seemed like the best option.

Carefully creaking open the door, he stepped outside into the cold night air. Like a child ripping open a candy wrapper, he lifted up the old dirty mat sitting by the doorway, and was immediately disappointed by what he saw. Nothing. He was about to turn around and go back inside, when a wet nose nudging the back of his leg startled him. If he wasn't being extra careful, Ninten probably would've yelled, or at least let out a less than manly screech. He turned around to face whatever creature had decided to spontaneously lick him, and let out a soft sight of relief when he saw that it was only Mick.

Mick was the family dog, they'd had him ever since Ninten was really little. He was old and fat, with a variety of gray and brown patches sprinkled across his white fur. The dog wagged his tail happily upon seeing his owner, only stopping when he saw Ninten cross his arms and frown.

"Asshole," He muttered, starting to turn on his heel again and resume searching the house, but something caught his eye. The tiniest flicker of something shiny hanging on the edge of Mick's collar. He bent down to examine it, only to gasp when he realized that what he'd looking for had been right under his nose the whole time. Well technically, right under Mick's nose. The silver key was incredibly tiny, but it seemed to match the lock on the basement door.

"You're a good boy, y'know that?" Ninten cheered happily, reaching down to pat the confused dog on the head before dashing back into the house with his new treasure. He was almost giddy with excitement by the time he shoved the key into the lock and the basement door finally opened. His first though was that no one had been down here after grandpa George had died, because it was dusty. Not just a few specs of dust either, every single inch of the place was covered in thick dust. Just looking at the musty old room was almost enough to trigger his asthma.

He had to hold back a sneeze as he entered, while scanning the room for the book his father mentioned. Most of the basement was nothing but empty boxes or old useless junk, and the lone old lightbulb hanging from the ceiling wasn't exactly helping his search either. In the dim light, he managed to make out a bat sitting in the corner. Sure it had a couple cracks, but other than that it was useable. He decided to hang onto it, in case he needed a spare sometime for baseball practice. Now there wasn't much left to do except dig through the stacks of boxes piled up, and he was sure the journal had to be in one of them.

Ninten got to work and grabbed a box from the stack, then sat in the floor and placed it in his lap. When he lifted the lid, it was like opening a treasure box from a video game. There were so many things stacked in the tiny box; family photos, newspaper clippings, scientific papers, and last but not least, a musty old book hiding at the bottom. He couldn't wait to dig through the journal, but he decided to look through the other things first to see if they were of any interest.

At first, it was just the usual things a family would keep. His parent's marriage announcement, his great grandparent's research achievements, old birth certificates. To be honest, it was kinda boring. Flipping through the old, yellowed pages was growing dull, but after awhile he found something.. interesting. The newspaper was probably decades old, and was so flimsy that it looked like it would crumble at any moment with age. He tried to be extra careful as he held it up and read the headline.

"The hunt for local reporter ends," Ninten read aloud. "Huh.." Underneath the headline, there was a picture of an short, older man, with thick framed glasses, and a mess of disheveled grey hair. The man's face was grim, and despite posing with the family he'd been reunited with, he looked extremely unhappy. "Last Friday, Podunk native George Jones was found near the city limits, after nearly 15 years of absence. The man was found unharmed, although he is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to rule out any foul play regarding his disappearance. George's location for all those years is currently unknown, but is currently being investigated. His wife's case will also be reopened, due to this new evidence."

There were obviously a lot of things he didn't know about his family. A whole lot of things. He just assumed his grandparents had died, like everyone else. That was just how Podunk was, people didn't just disappear into thin air, they all died of normal causes. The place was too normal for oddities to manifest, except now he wasn't so sure about that. When his parents talked about his great grandparents, they always described them as smart and pure. The type of people who went to church every Sunday, and spent the rest of their time doing things for the greater good. They were well liked, and there wasn't a soul in town who thought ill of George and Maria.

Shaking his head, Ninten put the paper away and took out the next thing he could find. Part of him wanted to be angry at his parents for being dirty liars, but at the same time, he knew that they did this for a reason. What kind of parent wanted to tell their kid that someone in their perfect family had had a not so perfect life? He tried to forget about that for now, and pulled out a thick envelope. It was addressed to his grandma Maria, from George. He squinted at the tiny letters, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him when he read the date. It was written after George returned home, years after his wife died.

Maybe his grandpa was crazy. Hell, he could believe it. With a frown, he tore open the envelope, and an untouched letter cascaded to the floor. It was long and hard to read because of the tiny text, but he was going to try anyway.

_To my dearest Maria,_

_The times are so hard without you, it's almost crippling. For now, I can only busy myself with study until we meet again. The power we spoke of is far greater than we imagined. It's a scientific breakthrough, and all of the subjects have successfully kept the sample in their bodies long enough for the power to manifest. Our daughter has even managed to withstand it, isn't that wonderful? Her pain is great, but the benefit will be far greater. She can shoot fire from her bare hands, without a single hint of injury._

_Her mind is unlike anyone else's that I've ever seen. She could even surpass HIM if she proves capable enough. The most exciting thing about this discovery is that she isn't the only one. There are so many more, just waiting for their powers to awaken. I've found that they're all different, some specialize in offense, some in defense, and some in simple telekinesis. One of my subjects can shield himself, but lacks in any combat scenario. I know, you must be tired of hearing about my findings, yet it's so exciting to know that I've created something so revolutionary._

_With every passing day, I long for you even more. Our daughter looks more and more like you every day. Blonde hair, blue eyes.. She's nothing short of beautiful. Her smiles are rarer and rarer, but they never fail to remind me of you. The absence of you is enough to make me lose my sanity. Do not worry my dear, because we'll be reunited soon._

_With love,_

_George_

Ninten doesn't know what to think of that. His powers aren't so weird after all, there's more out there like him. Or at least, there were. He has no idea if any more freaks of nature like him even exist. Maybe they all died out when his grandfather did. It's relieving, but scary at the same time. He always thought it was some kind of birth defect, or he was just some kind of freak accident that his mother had failed to mention. He lets the letter fall to the floor and puts his head in his hands. Like clockwork, those stupid powers are making his head ache. He frowns, trying to ignore the racing thoughts that the crazy letter has caused him. A spare clock in the corner tells him it's 1:03, so he knows he better hurry and get out of here.

With a sigh, he collects the diary and stands up. He starts to go up the stairs, and the sole light starts to flicker on and off. If someone was playing a cruel trick on him, it wasn't really the best time. He looks down into the murky darkness of the basement one last time, then gently slams the door. Like before, he has to be careful going back upstairs to his room, even more this time because now he has the diary tucked under his arm and the old bat in his other hand. The walk to his room seems even longer this time, but he makes it back into his room without his nosy mother or sisters catching him in the act.

Throwing the old bat in the corner, Ninten flopped onto the bed and crawled under the covers. He looks to his bedside table for a lamp, before realizing it tried to kill him today. Fortunately, he has a flashlight under his bed and can finally read the mysterious diary. He can't help but feel excited when he finally gets to crack open the book. The binding and pages are near falling out, and the blank brown cover holds no clues, but he's certain the inside will be much more interesting. Don't judge a book by its cover, right?

Unfortunately, the cover seemed to sum it up. Most of the diary was just scribbles disguised as writing, and the words (If you could call them that) weren't even in English. They seemed so foreign and strange to him, it was impossible to decipher any of the pages. So much for this this having all of his answers. There had to be something, though. He flipped through every page, but the only one that was readable was one of the ones near the very back, and it was only a single sentence.

"Who has lost his tail? The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos."

Of course, Ninten had no idea what that meant. What had lost his tail? And why was it sailing the cosmos? It seemed like something out of a video game rather than his grandfather's journal. He read the sentence over and over, trying to figure out the mystery of the strange sentence. The night ticked away, and he still had no answers. Oh well, it could wait until tomorrow. He put the diary away and tried to get some sleep, even though he knew his dreams would probably be plagued with nightmares. It happened a lot, and it seemed to involve aliens every time. Why aliens? He had no clue. Eventually, he managed to shut his eyes and drift into unconsciousness, but it didn't come easy.

* * *

"Get up, lazy!" One of his sisters screamed from the hallway. Ninten groaned and rolled over, trying to cover his face with a pillow to block out her screeching. It's hard to forget the events of yesterday, considering the first thing he sees when he gets out of bed is the freaky diary. He kicks it under the bed and groggily goes off to get dressed. When he trudges downstairs, his mother gives him a worried look and urges him to sit down and eat.

"I heard some strange noises last night. I hope this poltergeist business is all over," She says softly, watching her son for a reaction. Ninten knows if he slips up, he's screwed. So with a mouthful of bacon, he puts on the best distressed face he can and shakes his head.

"I didn't hear nothin," He quickly lies. She only sighs and goes back to cleaning the kitchen. "I'm going to town later, to play baseball or something." Both of his sisters are looking at him funny, probably because he's trying to swallow all of his breakfast in a single bite. He probably would go play baseball later, but he wants to check around town and see if anyone else has seen anything odd.

"Be careful. I heard some kids are causing a ruckus over at the graveyard, and I don't want you caught up in that." His mother pauses, before smiling and voicing one of her horrible ideas. "Why don't you take one of your sisters along with you? Just to be safe."

"No!" All three children shout in unison. Both girls roll their eyes, and go back to their food.

"Uh.." Ninten stammers. "I'll take the neighbor's kid with me! Yeah, me and Pippi will go. She's pretty cool, I don't mind taking her with me to play." His mother doesn't look too convinced, but she gives in and lets him go anyway, not even realizing that the baseball bat he drags behind him on his way out is a little different than usual.

When Ninten finally gets outside and away from his mother's excessive worrying, he has no intention of taking Pippi with him. She's a little bit younger than him, and not as annoying as his sieges, but still kinda annoying. She'd just get in the way of his investigation. He walks down the familiar dirt road, while whistling the strange song he heard from the music box yesterday. It's pretty damn catchy, he has to admit. Everything outside is tranquil and peaceful; the birds are singing, there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's easy to disregard that something could be wrong out here.

A gentle breeze blows his hair, and he grins as he walks down the road. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad, unless another crazy doll attacked him again. Even the sun is shining, and the heat is more comfortable rather than unbearably hot. It's almost a picture perfect day, until he passes by Pippi's house. Out of curiosity, he glances over at the house, just to see if she was home anyway. Instead, he sees her mother standing in the garden, wailing and pacing back and forth. The possessed lamps couldn't have got them, could they? Against his better judgement, he walks towards the house, ignoring the shriek of confusion the woman lets out when she sees him.

"Hi, Ms. Lundgren," He waves, trying to keep a forced smile. The woman always did sort of creep him out, not really in a bad way though. She was like an old cat lady, who's house was full of those collectibles that old women loved, but was always wearing way too much jewelry and perfume.

"Oh Ninten!" She wails, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. He tries hard not to wince from her grasp. "It's horrible, my darling Pippi has gone missing!" Of course that surprises him. Pippi didn't seem like the type to run away, but then again he didn't know her all that well.

"Have you looked around for her?" He asks, and Ms. Lundgren frowns at him, even though he was just trying to help. Pippi couldn't be lost around here anyway, her fiery red hair was wasn't very hard to miss.

"Of course I have!" She scoffs, letting him go. Ninten rubs his shoulder and grimaces. "She went out to play yesterday, and hasn't come back since. Please, help me find her!" Deep down, he wants to say no, because it isn't really his business anyway. However, she's an intimidating woman, and he shakes his head yes. Her tone immediately changes, and she gives him a large crooked smile, just oozing with fake compassion. "I knew you'd help. You've always been such a sweet boy! Now go, hurry!" She practically pushes him off her doorway, almost causing him to drop his bat.

It doesn't seem promising, yet maybe Pippi might have some answers if he manages to find her. She was always really rowdy, and if anyone knew anything about strange happenings, it was probably her. Not to mention, it was odd that she would just vanish. So Ninten headed for town, searching for the missing little girl, not knowing that he was about to step into a world of trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

Podunk wasn't the biggest town in the world, mostly the standard rows of run down houses that held middle class families much like Ninten's, a church, and several other stores scattered across the downtown area. In short, it was just like any other plain American town, and its citizens enjoyed keeping it that way. The grass was green, the people weren't out of the ordinary, so it was the perfect haven for people who wanted a simple life. Kids didn't really go missing in a place like Podunk.

Ninten continued down the old dirt road, kicking rocks and dust in his path. He drug his bat through the dirt beside him, casually strolling down the road he knew by heart. There was nothing to see but evergreen pine trees, and the heaps of needles they were shedding. Nothing except the same old thing he saw everyday. He relaxed a little, until something from inside the forest let out a low growl. A mangy dog came limping from the cluster of trees, barring its teeth and heading straight for Ninten. He tried to back away, but the dog quickly regained its speed and came nipping at his heels.

Clumsily, he swung his bat at the dog's paws, hoping more to shoo it off than anything. He'd never seen a dog this ugly. It's skin seemed a sickly sort of green, but maybe all these rumors were getting to his head.

"Down, boy." He scolded the dog, which of course, didn't work. The dog's sharp teeth came down on his exposed leg, and that was when Ninten had to abandon his sense of morality and give the dog a hard whack to the head. To his surprise, it stumbled around for a few seconds, before flopping to the ground in defeat. He stood back in awe, afraid to touch the dog in fear of turning green himself. There was something wrong with that dog, not just its skin- The eyes. A glint of red that he'd seen reflecting from his lamp was present in that dog's eyes as well.

The boy shuddered, taking one last look at the dog before he kept going down the trail. He could see the outskirts of town from here, which surprisingly wasn't as busy as usual. Finding Pippi and her fiery red hair would be a breeze. He didn't see any more dogs on the rest of the way or when he got to the sidewalk, much to his relief. One creepy, alien, zombie dog was enough for today.

Ninten wasn't exactly sure where he should look for her. The hotel? Nah, Pippi wasn't smart enough to hide there. Drug store? What would Pippi want with drugs? The pizza place? Definitely not. Pet store? Well, that was a start. So, he decided to head to the pet store. It usually didn't have much to look at, and was honestly a pretty shabby place, but Pippi seemed to have a thing for animals. Besides, someone else in the department store might have seen her; it was worth a shot.

Usually, business was booming there, but Ninten didn't see a single person beside himself riding the escalator up to the top floor. Most of the shopkeepers were standing at their registers with a bored look on their faces, that clearly said they'd rather be anywhere but here right now. Like he expected, there was no one else in the pet store but a dull looking man, surrounded by empty cages and a store void of the very thing it was supposed to specialize in. Maybe they'd have pet rocks, at least?

"G'morning." Ninten greeted as he walked in, striding up to the counter.

"If you're looking for anything today, sorry. We're pretty bare today, besides a chick we got in the back- all this zombie stuff is scarin' people off. Bunch of bull if you ask me." The man's words sparked his curiosity even more, and in showed in Ninten's hopeful expression.

"That's okay. I was wondering if you'd seen a girl around. Small, short, red haired, more than likely dirty." The man raised at eyebrow at his question, then shook his head in reply.

"Can't say I have. If you find her though, this bird would be a good gift, only 80$!" Ninten's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. 80$ for a bird? And for Pippi nonetheless? He opened his mouth to protest, but the man had already went to the back room and retrieved a small cage, with a baby bird that could practically fit in the palm of your hand. It looked like a runt; tiny, covered with ruffled down, and peeping at the top of its lungs. Okay, maybe it was cute, in an odd sort of way.

"I don't have eighty dollars..."

"I need it off my hands, so tell you what.. You can have him for free." The bird was placed on the counter, and the man leaned down with his palm on his cheek in exasperation. "The mayor might can help you with your friend, but I doubt it."

Ninten carefully took the bird off the counter and thanked the man, then went back the way he came. Almost immediately, the cage was slung into his backpack, but not before he'd safely gotten the baby bird out and held it in his hand for the rest of the way. It just seemed safer, plus he kind of enjoyed running his fingers against the bird's feathers, and watching it chirp with delight. For some reason, the bird's voice reminded him of something. Something weird, something very far away. He shrugged that feeling off as they left town, headed for the local bird sanctuary. He already knew he couldn't keep it, so maybe it would be better off with some of its own kind.

With the bird in his arms, no strange creatures jumped up to attack him, save for a crow that stole a coke out of his backpack. Ninten climbed through the tangle of weeds and thorns, that led to the crooked chain link fence guarding the birds. All of the wildlife, flowers, and weeds were overgrown, just for the birds to live peacefully. This whole place seemed like something a hippie would come up with, but Ninten felt relaxed sometimes to hear the birds call to each other and lay back in the warm grass.

As he struggled through the long grass, he saw a blue haired man with a beard pacing around, surrounded by a flock of canaries of course.

"Uh, mister!" He called out, pointing to the squirming baby bird in his arms. If anyone could tell him what to do with it, this guy could

"It can't be... No. Someone has finally brought Laura's chick back to her." The man said in disbelief, his eyes going wide at the sight of Ninten coming towards him. "Take the shortcut right of that gravestone, boy. You'll see poor Laura, crying for her lost child." This guy was freaky, not to mention a little too sentimental over his birds, but Ninten decided to find this Laura, following the said shortcut.

When the bird saw Ninten carrying her missing chick, she chirped in glee, staring up at the boy as if he'd just saved her entire world. That was something else Ninten found unordinary about himself, animals seemed to click with him. He could tell what they were feeling, but he'd never been able to talk to them.

"Thank you." She cooed, the voice of a young woman appearing in Ninten's head. "You've brought her back home to me, and I can only thank you with my song. Listen carefully, for I can only sing it once before the melody goes to rapture."

A song flowed through the air, akin to the feeling of great longing. As the notes flew across the breeze, memories flashed through Ninten's mind. His mother holding a bundle in her arms, his father teaching him how to catch a ball, the day his baby sister was born. Then suddenly, those fond memories were only a recollection in the back of his mind, for the song was over, and the bird had cradled her baby against her wing, thanking Ninten once more.

He knew he'd never forget that song, as long as he lived.

* * *

After the pang of sadness the meeting with the birds had left him, Ninten figured he'd better get down to business. The shopkeeper had mentioned zombies, and there was really no reason for him to lie, considering Ninten seen something undead with his very own eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out where these zombies were coming from, as there was a cemetery next to the church at the south end of town. Practically everyone who had ever lived in Podunk was buried there, so it was basically a invitation for the undead to come raid it.

Against his better judgment, Ninten didn't take the man's advice and go to the mayor. He knew what kind of man the mayor was, and it would only slow him down to go ask questions. Dealing with the zombies himself seemed like a much better plan. He was lucky to get this far without seeing anymore, because as soon as he stepped out of the shopping district, the back roads were crawling with icky, gooey, remains of the dead. People who had died hundreds of years ago were roaming the graveyard like it was nothing, eyes clear and dead but still filled with the oozing red substance that kept them very much alive.

It looked like he would have to do this the hard way.

Like the idiot he was, Ninten dashed into the graveyard, having to doge dug up holes, and missing limbs. Several zombies noticed his presence, but he was fast enough to get past most of them, besides an old woman that latched onto his arm. A whack of his bat later, the cold fingers clawing his skin had fell to the ground like branches from a tree, and he ran like the wind. It was scary, knowing anything could jump out at him at any moment. The low growls that came from the zombies didn't make things any better, and he could swear he heard their cries every few minutes.

The church door nearby was locked up tight, but he saw a younger man nearby, looking up at the sky like he was lost.

"Uh, hey there. Have you seen a-"

"DELICIOUS."

"Wait, what?"

"YOUR FLESH IS DIVINE." Turning around, the man faced Ninten with a crooked smile and rotted out pieces of bone that used to be teeth. It took all his courage to keep from screaming like a little girl, and promptly swinging his bat at the deranged zombie. The bat hit the man's stomach with a hard thud, but he kept charging. Ninten knew he would have to call on a higher power, and so he prepared himself for the unavoidable turmoil that would come with it. He shut his eyes and pointed his finger straight at the zombie, muttered a few words under his breath, and suddenly a ray of light shot out his finger and surrounded the two. It shielded Ninten, but burnt the zombie's flesh like a candle's wax when he tried to shove his hand outside.

A scream later, and Ninten had escaped the confrontation, even though his heart was pounding and he was sure he'd get struck with asthma at any moment. He kept running, not caring if he tripped over any stray bones. He just wanted out, and fast. The edge of his shoe hit something hard while he was fleeing for his life, and he looked down to discover a crypt that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Getting lost in a place like this totally wasn't going to get him killed or anything.

They say curiosity killed the cat, and curiosity killed Ninten when he decided to drop down into the eerie, pitch black, crypt. At least, it would give him a shelter from the zombies for a few minutes. His tired body sank to the floor, and he leaned against the cold walls, letting his head rest against his knees. He didn't notice the slight shift of one of the coffins, or the head that had peeked up at him. He wasn't aware that anyone else was there until a stubby finger poked his arm, causing him to shriek in terror. The surprised Pippi covered her ears, and gave him a scowl worthy of approval from the devil himself.

"Geez, you're loud."

Ninten had to take a good look at her to make sure she wasn't a zombie that was just really good at fooling him. She had the same habanero hair, tattered pink dress, unruly pigtails, and tanned face with freckles scattered across her cheeks. He was pretty sure she hadn't been converted, but he was still cautious as he stood up and faced her.

"What are you doing down here?" He asked. By the looks of it, she'd been hiding down here for a long time.

"What do ya think? Hiding from all those damn zombies."

"Pippi!"

She stuck her tongue out at him, and took a slingshot from her tattered dress pocket. "I can say what I want, you can't tell me what to do. But actually, I'm kinda glad to see you, loser. I thought I was a goner down here."

"Yeah, well I thought I was a goner up there." A sigh escapes him, and he sinks back down to the floor. It feels like way more than a few hours since he's left home, and all the wild and possessed animals are taking a toll on him.

"I've got my slingshot, it just isn't much good against 'em. I hit one right between the eyes, and he kept going." She flings a rock at Ninten, causing him to doge (which is slowly becoming an instinct for him, due to all the craziness these past couple days) Messing with him seems to lose its appeal then, so she sits down beside the tired boy, still scowling at him. "What have you got your panties in a wad over?"

"I dunno, maybe all the zombies out there? The fact that my lamp attacked me?"

A confused look spreads across her face. "Wait, what?"

"Forget I said anything," Ninten shakes his head. "Why'd you run away in the first place? Your mom is real worried about you."

"Well, I was playing, when I left." Pippi's playful tone is soon gone, replaced with a sad voice that sounds nothing like her usual banter. "After I was outside awhile, I decided I didn't wanna go home. My ma worries too much, for no reason, and I mean, this place is kinda boring. Don't ya think?"

"She worries cause she cares about you. Strange things are happening, and your mom doesn't want you to get caught up in them."

"Strange things?"

"Haven't you noticed.." He starts off. "It started these last few days, but I've been feeling weird for awhile. Like something's going to happen. Then bam, all these zombies come out of nowhere. The dead coming back doesn't happen everyday, Pippi."

"Well yeah. If anyone can find out why all this weird crap's goin' on, it's you. You've always been a real weirdo." She smirks, crossing her arms across her chest in defiance.

"Hey, someone's gotta do it." Ninten rolls his eyes, forcing his tired legs to stand once more. "We've gotta get going, before they figure out we're down here."

"Wait a sec, I got something for ya." Pippi holds out something small and shiny in her palm, motioning for him to come closer with her free hand. It looks like something from a dollar store, the thing she pins to his shirt. Franklin badge is written across the front in big, bold, letters. "My ma told me this thing brings good luck. I don't believe in all that, maybe you can though, if you get desperate enough."

"Thanks Pippi." He mutters a half hearted thanks while climbing up the ladder, with Pippi trailing behind him. He worries something might happen to her on the way home, but she's strong for her age. Not many little girls could shoot a zombie in-between the eyes with a slingshot and live to tell the tale.

As they walk together, Pippi proves herself to be capable, and surprisingly a good battle partner. While Ninten swings, she shoots from afar, and when he's distracted, she can spot enemies way faster than he can. Yet, every time she manages a hit on a nasty crow, she has that "I told you so!" look on her face. The two walk back into town, whacking and shooting zombies with relative ease. They're both still pretty clunky, so Ninten misses a lot, but Pippi is there to back him up.

By the time they stumble into town, the orange rays of sun are coating the horizon, mixing with the pink of sunset. Many townspeople frown at them, or usher their children away from the two dirty kids that came hobbling in from the graveyard looking like a bunch of dumpster divers.

"Man, I don't wanna go home."

"I know, I know.. Why don't we stop by the mayor's office first? He can give us a ride." Deep inside, he wants to scold her, because he would love to go home and crawl into bed, after eating dinner with his mom and sisters. Unfortunately, he has a feeling he won't be having a comfy home life for quite awhile. Pippi shakes her head in disagreement, but he manages to drag her all the way to the mayors office anyway.

The plastic looking woman sitting at the front desk grins at them with a fake smile and ushers them back into the mayors office, pinching at Ninten's cheeks and telling him what a brave boy he is the entire walk down the long hall. The mayor has no such compliments when the two walk in. Beneath all the false awards and junk littering the office, the mayor sits up in his tall rolling chair and puts on a smile even cheaper than his secretary's.

"Ah Tintin, I see you've managed to find Pippi! Wonderful!"

"It's Ninten, sir."

The mayor waves his hand around, and laughs awkwardly. "Yes, yes! Sorry my boy. I'll phone her mother soon and tell her all about how I ventured out into the graveyard to find her terrified little girl. It'll surely guarantee my position in office next year, hero of Podunk!"

Ninten and Pippi both try to correct him at once, their words coming out in an angry jumble.

"I WASN'T AFRAID!"

"But I found Pippi!"

"While you're at it, could you take care of something else for me? The animals at the zoo are acting absolutely dreadful, causing a fit and even injuring our zookeepers. It's a real pest for us, so would you scoot on over there and take care of it?"

Pippi clenched her tiny fists by her side and stopped her foot impatiently. "Am I going to get my free ride home, or not?!"

* * *

Ninten and Pippi walk into the small house, immediately being greeted with the scent of herbal tea and perfume. Pippi's mother is sitting on the couch, dabbing a tissue to her watering eyes. When she sees her little girl, she wraps her into a bone crushing hug. Beside her on the couch is Ninten's mother, looking weary and worn herself. That tea mustn't have helped them much. She gives him a tired smile, a clear signal that they're going to have to have a talk when he gets home.

"I'm so glad both of you are back, safe and sound." She says, taking a sip of her tea. Ninten doesn't like to stay in Pippi's house for too long. Ms. Lundgren hasn't changed the decorations in years, and the gaudy green curtains and cushy couch remind him too much of his grandma's house.

"The mayor told me all about how he rescued you, Pippi! He's such a brave man, going in where those savages were!" Ms. Lundgren cries, clutching her pearl necklace in anguish.

"Yeah, he's brave alright." Pippi quips, whenever her mother lets her go.

"I'm going to make Pippi something nice to celebrate her homecoming, would you two like to stay for dinner?" The large woman departs into the kitchen, making Pippi visibly relax. That's it, Ninten realizes, she's embarrassed of her overzealous mother.

"No, I'm afraid I have to get going. I was just so worried about Ninten, I ended up staying over too long." Ninten's mother stands, getting ready to leave. Clearly, she's had her fill of Ms. Lundgren too.

"Nonsense, you two are welcome anytime. Stay safe on your way back."

Ninten's mother makes him say goodbye, and just as he's going out the door, he sees something from the corner of his eye. Nothing incredibly odd, considering what he's seen, but Pippi is waving in an incredibly proper way, her cheeks flushed as she softly mouths the words, "Bye Ninten."

He doesn't understand why her display doesn't make him flush as well, it only leaves him confused, and Pippi looking disappointed that he didn't try to flirt back. He feels incredibly awkward, and the silent car ride home doesn't help. His mother keeps a tight lipped frown, and even Mick doesn't wag his tail when he sees them approaching the doorstep.

"Ninten," She says, the moonlight illuminating her face and showing her true age. Ninten doesn't know how to respond. His mom never cries in front of him, and tries to show no indication that she ever worries about him. Now, she looks so devastated, as if she's already lost him, when he hasn't even left yet.

"Mom, I'm sorry I went looking for Pippi. I didn't think there was really.. Y'know.." He tries to apologize, finding it easier to look at his shoes than his mother.

"Things out there that can hurt you?" She finishes his sentence for him. "I've known ever since the day you were born, that you were a very special boy. You wouldn't be my son if you didn't have those powers. They make you special. That doesn't mean people won't go after you. Those things out there..." Her eyes dart to the far off forests, the dark shadows of trees. "Want to hurt you, because you have the power to fight back. I think your grandpa knew that you had something special, which is why he wants you to go."

"I don't think I'm ready to go. I'm only 15, and you guys need me." It's hard not to tear up, the way his mother talks like he's leaving forever on some sort of journey that guarantees that he'll never return.

"That's true. Letting you go is one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do, but I know you're the only one who knows how to fix this world. That's why I have to let you go on this journey. Your father wants you to go, and I tried to argue with him at first." She wrings her hands anxiously, struggling to find the words she needs to get out. "Now, I realize, you have to go. There'll be so many people out there like Pippi that need you, that need your power. And as your mother, all I can do is pray for you to come home to us."

"Mom.." Even in the darkness, his mother reaches out a hand to wipe the stray tear that's found its way down his cheek.

"No crying till you get back. Now go, I believe in you, and I love you!"

With a heavy heart, Ninten shuffles and adjusts his cap. He makes sure everything is in his backpack, and his baseball bat is at his side. It isn't till the distant light of his comforting home is behind him that he hears the words,

_"I miss you."_


	4. Chapter 4

It was pitch black dark when Ninten departed from his house, and headed down the old road. Naturally, the nighttime air and small slimmer of moonlight made the confrontation with foes even worse. It was hard to know where to swing his bat without missing, and he was still sore from his and Pippi's excursion earlier. Midnight was definitely not the time to be fighting, which was proven even more by his stumbling. All the lights in the neighborhood were out, and his only way of knowing something was near were the screeching or birds or whizz of alien machinery.

If he could just make it into town, and head to the hotel, he'd be alright. Unfortunately, the world was not as kind as Ninten knew it to be. He'd learned now that enemies liked to group up, knowing good and well that he was alone, and only had one baseball bat to smack them senseless. A low screech, almost like tires grinding against gravel filled his ears, not only once, but three times. Three simultaneous beating of wings, all drawing near. One crow pecked at his legs, and another at the tip of his cap. He could swear the other was laughing at him. He took a swing, and felt satisfied when his bat hit something hard and left a feather on the edge of the wood.

The other crow pecked harder, digging it's sharp talons and beak into his leg as fiercely as it could. Already, it burned and he knew it would leave a mark. He braced himself, and aimed downwards, bashing the crow right on the head and sending it spiraling into the dirt. The only crow left had stopped laughing, but ending up fleeing in the process. Ninten sighed and kept going, when he was sure he didn't hear anymore suspicious snickering. When he made it back into town, it seemed even darker, if that was possible. No street lamps were up, leaving him to wander along the shadow of the sidewalk until he saw the crooked sign that said, "PODUNK HOTEL. YOU STAY, YOU PAY."

The opening of the door made the snoozing desk attendant jolt awake, clearly surprised that he had a customer this late, and such a young customer at that.

"What are you doin' here kid? Shouldn't you be in bed at this time of night?"

"I need a room, please." Ninten was already fishing money out of his pocket, noticing that it was considerably lighter. Those damn crows had stole some of his change, and a candy bar. He grumbled under his breath, but the man at the desk didn't notice, merely raising his eyebrow in response.

"Aren't you 12 or something? Oh well. As long as you got money, the room's yours." When Ninten passed the money over, the man slung a room key at him. Finally, Ninten could get some rest.

The walk up the stairs was excruciatingly long, and by the time Ninten got up to his room, the squishy mattress seemed like the softest bed on Earth, made of only feathers. Except the thought didn't really ease him to sleep, since it brought back memories of the crows, and other weird things he'd ended up having to fight today. He wriggled out of his clothes and out his pajamas on, before finally settling in underneath the warm sheets and flipping the lights off.

For right now, his mind was clear of everything weighing him down. His mother, the aliens, the premise of risking his life to save the world, they were all floating away into the back of his mind, and only sleep was there now.

* * *

Ninten had strange dreams, more than the average person, but this had been one of the stranger ones.

There was a field of peach colored clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see. They swirled in every direction, from the tips of the skyline to the bottom of the world. It was an amazing sight, but not as amazing as the seashell houses dotting the atmosphere. This place had the most calming feeling, just like home. He felt at ease, like he could do anything while he was here. Maybe he could even fly, like he'd always dreamed of. Beside him, sat another young boy who had decided to join him on the wispy cloud. He was so small, despite his face looking like a teenager the age of Ninten.

His hair was the color of a thunderstorm, silver, with streaks of white peeking out, like the small white clouds hiding beneath the darkness. To add to his young appearance, a pair of thick and crooked glasses were perched across his nose. His skin was a milky white shade, too pale to look real. He was dressed like any other kid, a plain shirt and shorts. Except for the hair, he looked almost normal, like someone you'd see on the streets every day. That was, until Ninten saw his face. Both his eyes were a soft pink, like a Rose Quartz gemstone. There was no other way to describe it, and Ninten had never seen eyes like that before.

At the time, in his dream, Ninten wasn't really at awe. It was like they were friends, and they'd been chatting away for years, no worries but the seashell houses and pink clouds.

"It's so nice here," The boy with the pink eyes said, his soft-spoken voice sounding like the equivalent of a warm, sunny day, a contrast to his appearance. It was odd, just how much that voice seemed familiar to him. "Time doesn't even pass. You could stay here forever."

"Huh.. How do you know so much?" Ninten tilted his head back in confusion.

"The Queen told me. You should know, it's your dream after all."

"My dream?"

The boy rolled his eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "This is your world, Ninten. It's created to fit you, to fit what you desire."

Ninten looked even more confused. "How could I do something like that?"

"Dreams are funny. I've dreamed a long time, about this place. Even if it isn't my own. I dunno why.."

"Wait, how do you know my name? And what's yours?" Ninten asked, and tried to turn to the boy, but he was gone, leaving only the morning sunshine peeking through the curtains, and a busting headache manifesting where one of those zombies had smacked him. No longer did he feel that peace.

No use trying to bring back a silly dream. He figured he'd get ready, to go see the zoo. At least they had penguins there.

Already, he was getting stares as he walked along the Podunk streets. Kids would pause on their bicycles to get a glance of that kid who'd managed to get rid of the zombies. Even some adults gave him curious glares. Like this kid could do it?

The walk to the zoo wasn't too bad, but it was hidden in the middle of the woods. Vines and tangles of thorns wrapped around the gate, trying to deny entry. Some of the metal bars were dented, and several shrieks of gorillas and the trumpeting of elephants could be heard from outside the gate. It sounded like an off key chorus, in tune with the buzzing he'd heard from some of those aliens. The animals just didn't sound right. No matter how creepy they sounded, Ninten had to do this, otherwise the mayor would never let him hear the end of it.

He took a step back, before pushing on the lock with as much force as he could muster. To his surprise, the lock rattled and fell right to the ground, like clockwork. A small push to the gate, and it creaked open as well. The first thing he noticed, was that the zoo was a lot different than he remembered. When his mother had brought him as a child, there were always crowds of people with their noses pressed against the glass to see the animals. Now, you didn't really need to look through glass to see the animals. They were everywhere.

Gorillas roamed around, some trying to climb the zoo walls. They were bigger, more aggressive than usual, and their beady eyes were squinted and dyed a crimson red. Their muscles seemed to bulge, and an air of violence surrounded them. Ninten decided he was gonna avoid those gorillas like the plague. He didn't take two steps, before he saw the lions, with their long, razor sharp teeth. Alligators were loose as well, and looking at them, the lions didn't seem so sinister anymore. The only thing that didn't have teeth like spears were the Penguins, and even they seemed to turn on each other, waddling around in distress.

It was a sign, that he saw that monkey hiding in the corner. A dopey grin was on its face, and it's eyes weren't full of vengeance, nor dark red. It simply seemed confused, like a fish out of water in this sea of animals. Every few seconds, it would frown and look around for something. Ninten decided to approach it. The worst that could happen was that it would run off, right? He tried to tiptoe to the monkey's shattered enclosure. Unfortunately, the monkey picked up on his movement and darted off in the opposite direction.

There was a tiny little building in the corner of the zoo, and Ninten guessed it was the office. The monkey had ran off towards it, running faster than an Olympic sprinter. Whatever was in that building, had to be important. At least his intuition told him that. So, in his recklessness, he followed the monkey. He'd expected all the animals to crowd into the front of the zoo, away from what was making them all miserable and violent. However, that didn't happen. One of those enormous gorillas was attempting to climb up a tree, away from whatever plagued his mind.

When Ninten drew near, his eyes focused on the boy, and all the tree climbing was forgotten. The gorilla hit the ground with a large thud, drawing Ninten's attention to the obvious gap between them. He was two feet too short to go head to head with the gorilla like he was supposed to. A hairy black fist launched itself at his head, and he rolled into the slick grass to dodge, the gorilla missing him by a hairs breadth. Which made him realize, he needed to think more with his head, and not with his fist. Most of his power was drawn from urgency, or a sense of foreboding doom that he'd feel. This time, he'd have to control it.

It was hard to draw so much power to his mind. He stepped back, letting the gorilla snort and unmercifully raise his towering fist to strike at him again. Ninten shut his eyes, and tried to concentrate. It was purple, mixed with a pink the color of those clouds in the dream. His mind drifted to that place, that sense of peaceful tranquility he'd felt in the land of pink clouds and seashell houses. Something triggered a surge of energy inside him, and suddenly the gorilla let out a pained roar. Ninten's eyes flew open, and his mouth instantly went agape. A barrier, larger than both him and the animal, surrounded them both. It bathed him in violet light, while it harmed the gorilla and blocked his attacks.

That gave Ninten the opportunity to jump out and strike the gorilla right between the eyes. The creature let out another roar, before falling to its defeat. Somehow, Ninten had the feeling he'd learned something from this battle. When the gorilla was still, and could no longer move, he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to imagine the barrier again. It didn't work. Crestfallen, he trudged on to find the monkey.

It gave him an advantage now, to have something besides his bat. It would get cracked eventually, and he'd be out of luck if he couldn't use his power for something other than healing little minuscule scratches. If only, he could use that barrier again. From the looks of it, none of the animals would be as careless as the dazed gorilla. They were all on alert now, watching him from afar.

He could hear the cries of the animals as he walked, all of them suffering from some unknown ailment. The grass was nearly up to his waist, and it was clear no one seemed to care about the zoo anymore. It was just there, wasting away, and no one had the courage to face the animals running wild. Was that what the aliens wanted? Were they trying to control the animals? They'd tried to control his lamp, so anything was possible.

The monkey had left a sort of trail, wanting Ninten to chase after it. He probably thought this was all a game, and the little pest wanted to be a pain in the ass. Obviously, he didn't fall for it and kept going towards the building. He noticed, the closer he got, the more distressed the animals were. They would sometimes fight each other, or be so out of it that they'd go running into walls or try to go back into the broken pens they'd previously escaped from. Anything to get away from what was bothering them.

When he reached the door, there was a sticky note attached to it. It read, "Turn back, if you can. They're all crazy, they'll kill you. There's something in the office too. I can't remember what it looked like. Go back before you see it. It's not like us." That was enough proof that there was certainly something wrong here, and his suspicions were right. Whatever had possessed his lamp, possessed these animals too. And it was right ahead, just behind these doors. Someone had to do it, and it had to be Ninten.

He burst inside, expecting the creature to jump out like a faux scary movie. It didn't, and he was only met with an empty office, and a set of stairs. There was a shoebox in the corner, the only decoration in the eeriely silent room. A couple bread rolls lie inside. Weird, but he'd take what he could get. He stuffed them into his backpack, and started to go up the stairs. The next floor was different. It was a long hallway with a door on the end, that was barely attached to the hinges. It looked identical to the last floor, same orange paint, and matching yellow floors, but something was different.

Like the bottom floor, it was completely silent, save for a humming sound that seemed more to be in his mind than in reality. He treaded down the long hallway, not failing to notice the humming got louder. When the door was barely in his reach, a buzzing joined the humming. It gave him a headache like he'd never had before. He rubbed his forehead, trying to ease some of it before entering. Whatever was in there, knew how to mess with his head.

With hesitance, he grasped the doorknob, and slowly turned it. Now or never. The room that greeted him matched all the others. All the office furniture was torn out, the tacky orange wallpaper peeling off, except there was something lying in the center of the room, plaster from the ceiling having fallen all around it. His eyes darted up to the roof, where the alien must have charged right through the top of the building. No wonder this place was such a wreck when he arrived. In opposition to the mess it had made, the alien was in a shiny metal pod, like a pill but twenty times bigger. It didn't move, and only made that unsettling humming noise.

Having that thing stuck in the pod would do no good. Ninten knew he'd have to destroy it some way. He swallowed nervously, and bent down next to the container. His hand grazed the cool metal, which felt just like he'd imagined a spaceship to be. For a second, it stayed exactly like that. Almost immediately, it was burning hot to the touch, searing the palm of his hand. The metal began to melt into some sort of chrome goop, and something crawled out from what was left.

Ninten had seen his share of dumb alien movies. His sisters loved them, and his mother would roll her eyes and change the channel when they were on TV. The aliens were almost always short little green men, with bulging eyes and ray guns that looked like something out of a Toys R Us store. Pretty boring, in his opinion. However, this alien was nothing like the aliens that he was used to seeing. It wasn't green; it was the same metallic grey, made out of the same shimmering material as the pod. It wasn't short; it was a whole four feet taller than Ninten, it's rounded head nearly touching the ceiling. It certainly wasn't tiny; it was bigger than the alligators that had snapped at Ninten on the way here.

The scariest thing about this thing, was that it had no bulging eyes or gun. The place where it's eyes should be looked like a sun visor, except it looked permanently attached. Beneath that armor, Ninten knew there were no eyes to stare at him, and somehow, that made it scarier. The hands of the creature were rounded like its head, except they resembled tentacles more than anything. Tiny little flickers of light danced off its limbs, and Ninten realized it was time to stop staring and get out of the way. He did the same strategy that he'd pulled off with the gorilla, rolling and dodging when he saw the beam getting closer to its actual size.

It missed him, hitting the corner of the room, and successfully making a giant hole in what used to be the wall next to the doorway. He could swear it singed the hairs off his arms, but there was no time to think about that. That barrier, he needed it now more than ever. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate once more, on anything that put him at ease. His favorite food, his mother, the pink clouds, Mick, baseball on a cool spring day, memories of his father. None of it got him any closer to that shield again. Soon enough, the thing- which he'd elected to call a Starman, due to the fact that it had probably come from some far off planet or star- was charging up another beam to fire.

That laser was probably a thousand degrees, enough to kill him in a single hit. Ninten had to doge it, some way. The first flash of yellow went flying his way, and he rolled the other way. The wall gained another hole. This time, the Starman got smarter. Right after the first charge, he'd built up enough energy to fire a second one in less than a few seconds. Ninten tried to come up with a plan in that timeframe. It was a shitty plan, but a plan nonetheless. He clutched his bat as tight as he could, and ran up to the back of Starman. The wood cracked against the metal, not leaving a single dent in the armor.

The Starman reared its ugly head, and it's black shade was on Ninten, feeling his presence despite not being able to see. One of its tentacles wrapped around his waist, leaving him immobile. He squirmed and squirmed, shutting his eyes and trying to use his power. "Please!" He pleaded within his mind. It was no use. His mind was in chaos, and his body was drenched in sweat from all his fighting. There was no way he could get calm enough to use it. He could feel the flicker of the sparks melting away at his bare skin, as the Starman prepared its last attack.

Ninten closed his eyes, trying to make his last moments decent before he was blasted to bits. Why did he come here? Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to look into the soul of this monster? Why was he the only one that could do this? Why did these aliens come after him? What was so special about him? Those questions took over his mind, as he was 'dying'. He knew it was coming, but it never did. The surge of power flew at him, yet something deflected it, and the metal was burning instead. Unsurely, he opened his eyes and looked down. The starman's tendril let go of him, throwing Ninten to the ground, as he screeched and made a noise that was indescribable.

Then, the pod was there once more, and the Starman was gone back to wherever it came from.

Ninten didn't realize what happened, until he looked down at his shirt. Only a little scratch was left on the Franklin Badge, and Pippi's words echoed in his mind. "My ma told me this thing brings good luck."

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank god for Pippi..." Ninten was even more exhausted now. He'd came here to find the monkey, and instead he'd found something out of this world. Literally. Which made him wonder, where was that monkey?

He decided to leave the building, and all at once, everything was as it should been. None of the fences were stomped down, and all the animals were in their enclosures where they belonged. They were eating, sleeping, and playing happily, like old times. There was no time to be in awe about it though. That monkey knew something, he hadn't been affected by the Starman like all the other animals had. Ninten tried to remember the old path around the zoo his mother took him around, the monkey exhibit was towards the back, if he remembered right. Fortunately, he was, and hadn't walked all the way around the zoo for nothing. The monkey was hanging from a tree, its tail wrapped around one of the branches.

"Came to see the singing monkey, did ya?" It told him, in a sing-song voice. No matter how matter times it happened, he would never get used to all these animals suddenly being able to talk to him.

"Singing monkey? Since when do you sing?"Apparently the monkey had singing lessons.

The monkey scratched its head and pointed down to the sign near the fence. "Are you blind, kid?"

Sure enough, the information now read, "THE INCREDIBLE SINGING MONKEY!" Ninten didn't remember that from his last visit to the zoo, but oh well. "What do you sing?" He asked.

"Eh, all kinds of stuff. Normally I sing for kiddos, all kinds of boring stuff. You though, you did something good. So you'll get something better." The monkey bounced around happily on the branch.

"It was nothing." He shrugged. "Anyone could have done it."

"Yeah right," The monkey giggled. "How about I sing you a special tune? I haven't done this one in ages, so sorry if I'm a little rusty." The monkey cleared his throat, and begin to make a beautiful sound. It fit perfectly with the music Ninten had gotten from the doll, and Laura, the missing notes from the rest of the song. The blissful music only lasted a few more seconds, before the monkey scratched his chin and suddenly stopped. That feeling of homesickness was gone in an instant.

"Sorry. I forgot the rest. Better luck next time. Thanks for saving us, kid. I didn't think all those guys were gonna last much longer, with all that screechin' and broadcasting that thing in there was doing. You're a real hero, you know."

Ninten grinned. "It was nothing."

But to him, it was something. A victory, perhaps. His first real step on his adventure.


End file.
